The United States' Senate

Laws concerning Senate representation in the United States stipulate two senators for all states irrespective of the population size of the state in question. This system has considerably posed threats to democracy and fair representation as it promotes significant levels of disparity in states, especially in economic perspectives such as per-capita distribution. An analysis of the federal funds per capita in states such as California and South Dakota, which have an estimated population of 36 million and 755,000 respectively, highlights the flaws in the Senate design.

South Dakota enjoys high proportions of federal funds per capita as compared to California.

Policies on equal state representation have created a situation whereby representatives from minority groups dominate the US Senate (Lee & Bruce, 2011). An evaluation of the composition of senate members demonstrates that the greatest percentage of US senators represents an estimated 18 percent of America’s population. Since the Senate plays a key role in various aspects of policy implementation in US, passing of laws is subject to the decision of the minority population. Thus, less populated states continue to enjoy benefits that exceed their population ratio. The policies on Senate representation have introduced numerous barriers, especially concerning the participation of the larger states in several of aspects of policymaking. Research indicates an un-proportional representation of nine of the largest states despite the fact these states contain a significant percentage of the American population. Out of 100 senators, only 18 senators are from the nine states (Rosenfeld, 2004). Such aspects depict the US Senate as an entity that functions in disregard to democracy.

An overhaul of the policies relating to senate representation is critical in order to promote equal participation of all American in crucial aspects of policymaking. The stakeholder engaged in drafting the current Senate policies considerably relied on the 1787 constitutional conventions, which disregarded various aspects of democratic state representation.